Report criticizes Virginia for overreliance on incarceration

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Report criticizes Virginia for overreliance on incarceration

RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) –A national justice reform organization released a report Wednesday saying that Virginia sends way too many people to prison, and spends too much money keeping them locked up for too long.

The report is the second one by the nonprofit Justice Policy Institute that criticizes Virginia’s “expensive, ineffective and unfair” justice systems. The commonwealth has the eighth highest jail incarceration rate in the United State, according to their data.

The latest report says that Virginia just had its first “documented increase in the prison population in five years,” and that the commonwealth is about to surpass $1 billion in annual funding for corrections.

This comes as the General Assembly grapples with passing a budget, having headed into a Special Session which itself costs taxpayers additional money.

Other states have a better balance between prison spending, and supporting individuals in the community, according to the report, and spend less money. In 2010, for every dollar Virginia spent on community supervision, it spent approximately $13 on costs for those incarcerated, according to the organization’s data.

isso

Government REFUSES to see that the amount of crime is directly
related to incarceration and directly related to those committing
the most crime solely based on facts. It is not based on the government’s acute efforts at discrimination For the government’s
favorites that it profile protects..

Sandy

Isso, is that you Becky under a different name? William, I don’t think anyone is advocating for the murderers to get alternative sentencing or go free. But there are others who might be good candidates for alternatives to prison sentencing. And when might the Dept. of Corrections expect that few bucks you’re offering?

Liz

isso

Heck, let’s just Release the eight caught today so crime and incarcerations stats won’t offend the Correct Politicians and their
favorites that are profiled protected and preferred under Correct-Mess.
We don’t even need laws anymore if it is Correct to just pick and
chose and refuse to enforce. The new quick, new justice seems
slanted to Catch/Release/Hire/Repeat/Recycle. Quick wash and GO.